Archive for the ‘Canon Reviews’ Category

Bryan at the-digital-picture.com has completed his review of the brand new Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens.

From TDP“The Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II is in an elite class of lenses, capable of producing prime-grade image quality at all available aperture and focal length settings. Put a very useful focal length range into a ruggedly-built, pro-grade lens with fast and accurate AF, very effective image stabilization and very impressive image quality and it is destined to be a very popular model. I highly recommend this lens….” Read the full review

PetaPixel has posted a comparison between the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 and the obvious clone the Yongnuo 50mm f/1.8. One of these lenses rentals for about $100, the other for $40 via ebay (though prices have risen with all the press its getting).

From PetaPixel“All in all, I’ve gotten some marked differences between the two shot under exact circumstances. Today’s tests aren’t anything fancy, and not the “hands-on, on set scenario” that I like, but they do give some input, so I thought I’d share. And I will go so far as to say the Yongnuo is aesthetically the better lens.”

FroKnowsPhoto has posted a video asking (and answering) which Canon full frame camera he thinks is for you (plus the EOS 7D Mark II). Jared talks about the EOS 6D, 5D Mark III, EOS-1D X and the APS-C EOS 7D Mark II.

I agree with most of what Jared says, outside of the EOS 6D. I think for $1499 after rebates, it’s still a buy now camera. A replacement is going to cost closer to $2000 than the current $1500 pricetag. We’ve heard that the EOS 6D replacement may go a bit upmarket, which could bring a higher price.

Photozone.de has completed their review of the brand new Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II and they like it. They like it a lot.

From Photozone.de“The king is dead, long live the king! Seems as if Canon wanted to show the new mirrorless kids who is still the boss around. The Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 USM L IS was already good but the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 USM L IS II is even better. Canon managed to improve the image sharpness substantially. The image center is now dead sharp and the borders and corners are easily very good at the mainstream settings. The very low amount of CAs (at and beyond 200mm) is highly impressive. The vignetting remains rather typical for a lens in this class, so you will be able to spot some light falloff at fully open aperture (300/400mm). Image distortions are well controlled. The quality of the bokeh is good although the best prime lenses continue to have an edge here. Bokeh fringing is not an issue due to the relatively small max. aperture.” Read the full review

“The difference in Canon’s computer-generated MTF charts for the 400mm DO and 400mm DO II is pretty striking, and I think our results confirm that difference shows up in actual optical testing as well as in the computer ray tracing. Canon also says the new design has much greater contrast, and I tend to believe that too, although we’ll all want to see images in a variety of lighting conditions.”

From LensRentals.com on the EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS II

100-400mm mtf50

100-400 II mtf50

Center

1300

1380

Weighted Avg.

980

1020

Corner Avg.

680

760

“The Canon computer-generated MTF charts suggest that the center of the image should be similar in both the old and new versions, but that the Mk II should be noticeably better off-axis and particularly in the corners. We do see that difference in the resolution tests, but I had expected the difference to be a bit larger. It’s certainly not nearly as dramatic as the DO difference.”